Malaysia, Corruption, and anti-Myanmar Hysterics: Hypocrisy of the OIC and Mass Media

Malaysia, Corruption, and anti-Myanmar Hysterics: Hypocrisy of the OIC and Mass Media

Salma Zribi, Chika Mori, and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

It is widely known that Gulf petrodollars from Saudi Arabia have benefitted certain political elites under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia. Equally, while Najib is concerned by the plight of Muslims in Myanmar it appears that he negates the persecution of Shia Muslims in Malaysia. Similarly, it seems to escape Najib that the Saudi Arabia alliance is pulverizing Yemen to pieces.

Indeed, the mass media in the Gulf and West are once more instigating hatred towards the government of Myanmar based on mass distortions of language. After all, the number of Rohingya Muslims killed in Myanmar is minuscule compared with the numbers of mainly Muslims who have been butchered by fellow Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and a few other nations. Therefore, the manipulation of language by the mass media and Najib – and others – is clearly based on denying the reality of what is happening in certain Muslim majority nations already mentioned.

Of course, it is worth mentioning that Najib may be ignoring the systematic bombing of Yemen by the Saudi Arabia coalition based on being tainted by Gulf petrodollars. After all, Najib isn’t expected to be an honest broker when it comes to Syria and Yemen and the intrigues of Saudi Arabia. This is based on the role of Gulf petrodollars in relation to the current Najib-led government in Malaysia and the usual hypocrisy of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It could well be that the crisis in Myanmar is being manipulated by Najib based on personal funding intrigues that beset the current leader of Malaysia. Hence, the same leader is extremely quiet about the endless bombing of Yemen by the Saudi Arabia led coalition. This bombing of the infrastructure of Yemen includes numerous hospitals being hit, mosques blown up, markets attacked, and even funeral processions. In terms of numbers of deaths and people maimed, then the language being used by Najib and international media groups towards Myanmar is more appropriate in relation to the deeds of Saudi Arabia.

Yet, given the monetary scandals of Najib and his ties to Saudi Arabia, then clearly the crisis in Myanmar is a blessing in disguise based on distractions. The New York Times commented last year, “reports accused Mr. Najib of putting the huge sum in his own accounts. Critics calling for him to step down charged that at least some of the money had been criminally channeled from the 1 Malaysia Development Board, a government fund set up by Mr. Najib. More recently, Swiss investigators have said it appeared that about $4 billion had been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies.”

The mass media also ignores the plight of Buddhists in the same part of Myanmar because the issue is complex. Equally, the brutal killings of Myanmar nationals over the last few years in Malaysia by suspected Rohingya Muslims or Sunni Islamists is escaping the attention of the mass media. On top of this, more Christians from various ethnic groups have been killed in Myanmar over the last few decades rather than Muslims. Hence the hypocrisy of the leader of Malaysia, the OIC, and international media groups, towards the multiple problems besetting Myanmar.

The OIC should focus on internal realities, for example, all non-Muslim holy places are forbidden in Saudi Arabia, the Shia are being butchered by Sunni Islamists in many nations, Muslim minorities face institutional Sunni Muslim state discrimination in many nations, and the Saudi Arabia led coalition is pulverizing Yemen. Equally important, various Sunni Muslim-dominated nations have supported sectarian Sunni Islamist terrorist groups against Syria. Therefore, while genuine concerns persist in Myanmar on various ethnic and political fronts, this issue in terms of the number of deaths pale into insignificance when compared with inner-Muslim bloodletting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and other nations.

In other words, the mass media is using dangerous manipulation of language towards Myanmar that is inciting and boosting Sunni Islamist propaganda. Likewise, Najib and the IOC are ignoring the reality on the ground in countless nations based on inter-Muslim bloodletting – and the same applies to the anti-Shia nature of nations including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

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